Lyon's Den Ch. 03

"This will be safer. You can park in the alley next to the door."

"Well, okay. Thank you." Mary felt another surge of warmth and indebtedness. She leaned in, and they kissed a little longer. "Goodnight."

"Sweet dreams."

On the drive home, Mary's emotions bounced and flipped like they were on a trampoline. At the peak, she felt excited about her future. Then her thoughts plummeted into alarm that she'd been gullible, easily manipulated.

As she walked from her garage into the kitchen, the solitude felt smothering. There was no life here anymore. No future here, just sameness. A colorless life.

Quickly, before she could change her mind, Mary packed an overnight bag, locked up behind her, and soon stood outside Daniel's door. She smiled, thinking, 'He'll be surprised,' as she punched in the door code. There was an annoying beep when she entered it wrong. Reading the numbers again, she reentered the code, and the lock clicked in welcome.

Tiptoeing up the stairs, heart pounding, she wondered about the best way to announce her presence. Should she crawl naked into bed? Should she knock on his bedroom door? No, the best plan was to sleep in the spare room and make breakfast before he woke up.

At the top of the stairs, Mary opened his kitchen door to find out her plan didn't matter. The overhead light blinked on, temporarily blinding her.

"Mary?" Daniel held something in his hand, swiftly hidden behind his robe. His stern face faded into a grin. "This is a pleasant surprise."

Feeling deflated, she coyly said, "Well, it made more sense to stay here and get an early start."

"Good idea."

"What're you hiding?"

He gave her a sheepish look, while bringing out a large handgun.

"Oh my god!" Her shocked eyes traveled from the gun to his face. "You could've killed me."

"Not really. When you punched in the wrong code it sent an alert to my cell phone." He pulled the phone from his pocket. "I didn't have time to load it. If you were a burglar, I would've tried the scare tactic, until the police arrived."

"Are they coming?"

"No, I didn't hit send. I wanted to make sure first." Putting the phone away, he held out his empty hand, and said, "I'm sorry I scared you. Come to bed."

She placed her palm over her pounding heart. "I don't think I can sleep."

Raising an eyebrow, he said, "Who said anything about sleep?"

"Oh!" This was not part of her plan, but it wasn't unwanted, really. The fact that he didn't ask her where she wanted to sleep, or if she was even interested in sex, kind of turned her on. He looked so manly in his robe, holding a gun. This was a new and unexpected thrill. Demurely, she took his hand, and let him take her to bed.